Chovanec case: Agent who brought Nazi salute remains suspended

On Friday, the Council of State rejected the request for suspension with extreme urgency submitted by the policewoman who gave Nazi salute during the intervention of the aviation police at Charleroi airport in February 2018. In that intervention, the Slovakian Jozef Chovanec died. . On October 15, the officer opposed the temporary suspension measure taken against her for a period of four months.

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During her hearing, the policewoman, who has now been temporarily assigned a new workplace, explained her gesture. “People see that I am giving a Nazi salute. In fact, the gentleman spoke in Slovak, loud, loud and very fast. MA (a colleague, ed.) Who was at the exit of the cell looks at me and sees an expression on my face. She asks me what he is doing. I tell her he expresses himself as … and since I don’t come to Hitler’s name, I’m making the gesture. There was no negative connotation on my part, nor any particular intention. The stress and adrenaline did not come to my name and that gesture is the first that came to my mind, ”the Council of State said.

On October 15, the Minister of the Interior decided to temporarily suspend the agent for a period of four months. According to the officer, this measure prevents her from running for other positions in the federal police. The officer also refers to the shame that would fall to her in carrying out the measure. But according to the Council of State, the arguments are not of such a nature to quickly reverse the provisional suspension measure.

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